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25th July 2017

The venue for Society meetings has changed and the directions to it given on p. 126 of the July 2017 issue are incorrect. Meetings are held at the Hall of St. Botolph’s Church, Bishopsgate, London EC2M 3TL. The Hall is set in a small garden behind the church, less than 2 minutes’ walk from Liverpool St. mainline and underground stations.

The Problemist

The May issue contained a full report of the BCPS weekend at Torquay,
plus two lectures from the meeting, John Rice presenting some problems
by a quartet of distinguished composers who were born in 1927, while
Michael Lipton asked “Is content in the eye of the beholder?”.
In another lecture report Jörg Kuhlmann compared logical preparation
over the board and in the problem. Browsing in the library
discussed A century of two-movers, the first volume in the
famous Overbrook series. In the Supplement John Rice continued
his survey of fairy pieces by examining the use of Berolina pawns, and
paid tribute to two recently deceased composers, Efim Rukhlis and
Venelin Alaikov.

Michel Caillaud

2nd Prize, Chlubna MT, 2006

Helpmate in 2: 3 solutions

1.f1R Sa5 2.Ra1 d4
1.f1B Sc5 2.Bc4 d3
1.f1S Sd6 2.Se3 dxe3

A problem quoted by Christopher Jones in his Selected Helpmates column.
After each promotion there is only one possible hideaway, and the white
knight is forced to close different lines. The light construction is
excellent.

Rukhlis here demonstrates the combination of changed and transferred play
which became associated with his name. In the Rukhlis theme at least two
set defences gain new mates after the key, while the original mates follow
new defences, and much of the interest lies in the mechanism which allows
the theme to operate.

Quoted from A century of two-movers, and an example of a great
composer knowing when to break the conventions. A. C. White commented:
“The promotion to queen is both brutal and obvious. Yet there is a
quaintness about the step, which combines with the almost incredible
oddness of the defences and mates, and makes this an outstanding problem,
if not one that is artistically very satisfactory.”